Tour de France: BMC Racing win team time trial and put Greg van Avermaet in yellow

BMC Racing have won the team time trial at the Tour de France this afternoon to put Greg van Avermaet into the race leader’s yellow jersey.

Team Sky, who were greeted with boos as they negotiated the course, finished in the runner’s-up spot, 4 seconds behind, with Geraint Thomas moving into third place overall before van Avermaet and the Belgian’s team mate, Tejay van Garderen.

The 35.5-kilometre Stage 4, which started and finished in Cholet, saw a reshuffling in the overall standings and gave a number of riders who had lost time due to crashes on the opening stage a chance to recoup time.

Among those to take advantage were two riders who lost 51 seconds to some of their rivals on Saturday, Adam Yates, whose Mitchelton-Scott team were first off the ramp this afternoon, as well as defending champion Chris Froome, with Team Sky the next to start.

BMC Racing’s win provided a boost for their hope for the overall title, Richie Porte, as other teams with riders harbouring ambitions of the overall title struggled.

Among the big losers today were Nairo Quintana, whose Movistar team came home 53 seconds down on BMC Racing, Bahrain-Merida with 2014 Tour de France winner Vincenzo Nibali, 1 minute and 6 seconds down, and Romain Bardet’s AG2R-La Mondiale, who came home 1 minute 15 seconds behind the day’s winner.

Quick Step Floors had gone out onto the course with the opportunity of getting Fernando Gaviria back into the overall lead, and also had a chance of getting Philippe Gilbert into the yellow jersey should the Colombian be tailed off.

On a short climb at the halfway point in the course, however, the Belgian team was forced to regroup as the pace forced riders – including Gaviria – off the back, costing the handful of seconds that might have put Gilbert in yellow.

The last team out on the course was the one with the rider in the overall lead, Bora Hansgrohe, and as they approached the second time check it was clear that Peter Sagan would be surrendering the yellow jersey, the road world champion blowing up moments later, putting it beyond doubt that the lead would change hands.